Escape to Romance with Shannon K. Butcher

Welcome to Escape to Romance, hosted by myself, DemonLover of Demon Lover’s Books and More and Book Savvy Babe. Since it’s a week of love, we are celebrating romance with the Escape to Romance event. We have so much going on this week, from author visits, interviews, and chats, to romance discussions, and lots of awesome giveaways and prizes! The more you participate, the more chances you have to win! Our grand prize of the event is a RomCon Registration Ticket! If you can’t make RomCon 2012, or you are international, don’t worry, you can win a $30 to Amazon or The Book Depository!

Please welcome Shannon K. Butcher

A lot of authors knew they wanted to write books from the time they were little. Their heads were full of fanciful stories that they yearned to commit to paper with a passion that only grew as they did. They spent hours reading fiction, voraciously absorbing every

kind of story they could get their hands on.

Shannon was not one of them.

When she was little, she wanted to be a daddy. When she learned the anatomical improbability of that happening, she decided instead to become what her dad was: an Industrial Engineer. So that’s what she did. She never once changed majors or veered from her path. After she graduated, she went to work for a big telecom company earning a steady paycheck while her husband pursued his dream to become a published author.

For those of you who might not know, Shannon’s husband is Jim Butcher, fantasy and sci-fi author extraordinaire. She learned to write in an effort to help him improve his own work and as soon as she discovered that writing was more a learned skill than a natural talent she knew she had to give it a try. She couldn’t resist the challenge of taking the pieces of a story apart and putting them back together again. It’s the kind of puzzle that made her want to be an engineer to begin with – to learn how things work and why. She thought she’d write the same kind of thing Jim did, but then she picked up her first romance in 1998 and was hooked. Somehow, stories about how two people come to love each other made everything else seem shallow in comparison. Maybe it was just her hormones talking, but whatever it was, it was loud, so she listened and she started writing romances. She wrote great heaping piles of skillfulness – like most new writers – but eventually her work sucked less and hopefully that trend will continue as she learns more. Heaven knows she have a great teacher. (Thanks, Jim.)

A family of geeks to the core, the Butchers live in Independence, Missouri, with their son and a dog who is only one four-foot stick away from being a dust mop.

I asked Shannon about her experiences at the RomCon convention, she said:“RomCon was great fun! It was small enough to have an intimate feel, while large enough to have something for all romance readers. I loved that there was plenty of time to sit and chat with folks and get to know them over the weekend. I met a lot of new friends there!”

(Shannon & DemonLover from RomCon 2010)

Give the readers a tidbit about my favorite series of yours, The Sentinel Wars:“They are the Sentinels. Three races, ancient guardians of mankind, each possessing unique abilities to protect humanity against their eternal foes: the Synestryn. Now, for one Sentinel, the only way to reclaim her forgotten past is to follow the blood.”

What can you tell s about your upcoming book release?Upcoming book synopsis: Jackie Patton has been rescued by the Theronai from her captivity and torture at the hands of the Synestryn. All she wants is to be left alone, but that isn’t possible — not when she’s a potential match for the Theronai warriors who need a woman to literally save their lives.

Forced to choose, she unexpectedly selects Iain, a cold-hearted warrior who doesn’t want to be saved. Iain is convinced that it’s too late for him — that his soul is already as dead as his former betrothed, killed by the Synestryn. Still, he is the only man Jackie feels a measure of peace around, the only one she wants. But is Iain indeed beyond saving?

Due to be released in 2012, Dying Wish, is book six of The Sentinel Wars and follows the novella called Bound by Vengeance.

Do you have a favorite Romance novel?

Unfortunately, no, I don’t really have a favorite all-time romance novel.I dohave a long list of authors that I loves to read, including JR Ward, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Lori Foster, Shannon McKenna and Lora Leigh, just to name a few.

Today Shannon is kind enough offer a copy BLOOD HUNT from the Sentinel Wars Series

Chat has been changed to here on the blog. Ask a question in the comments, she’s here to answer.

Chat will be TODAY from 6-7PM PST.

Can’t join the chat? Then leave a question for Shannon in the Comment section at the end of this post.

The giveaways for this event will vary every day. There are 2 giveaways that run the entire event, The RomCon Registration and a $30 GiftCard to Amazon or $30 worth of books of your choice from the Book Depository. These giveaways have daily entries, as well as a few main entries. So each day you comment on a post or tweet about the contest, you get an extra entry. We want readers to be engaged in the event all week, so the more you participate, the more chances you have to win. Be sure to check back each day! Enter now in the rafflecopter forms below (1 is for the RomCon ticket and 1 is for the GiftCard)

a Rafflecopter giveaway&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href=”http://rafl.es/enable-js”&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;You need javascript enabled to see this giveaway&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;.

a Rafflecopter giveaway&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href=”http://rafl.es/enable-js”&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;You need javascript enabled to see this giveaway&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;.

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About The Author

I am an Avid reader and mother of 3 adult children. Now 7 years after creating my first blog, Demon Lover's Book & More; book blogging has become my passion. Creating www.GotFiction.com blog has allowed me the opportunity to review great books, make wonderful friends and meet amazing authors.

Hi, Shannon! I met you at RomCon last year and my question is this – What leads you to decide which conventions, book signings, etc you do each year? Do you choose them yourself or does your publisher?

OK I hate to ask, but since I am discovering you for the first time today I have not read any of your books, but I just added a bunch to my wish list over on Amazon. I am a HUGE fan of your husbands so I have to ask, have you been LARPing with your husband with the Dresdon RPG game? I had to ask!! LOL We have not played but we own it and it look so much fun! NOW I need to become one of your fans!

Hi guys! I’m going to answer a couple of questions here before heading over to the live chat.

On the convention issue…I usually pick the ones I want to go to, not my publisher. I try to keep the number of events down so that I have plenty of time to write. Any more than 4-6 and the travel starts getting in the way of the work.

I pick events based on invitations first, then I go with a couple of cons that I know are fun–where I can hang out with other readers and spend time chatting with folks. There are so many great events out there, it’s easy to find lots to attend.

Seleste, I’ve had a few interesting convention stories. Mostly, they involve fire alarms in the middle of the night and everyone shambling out in their jammies. And then, of course, there are the costumes. I’m still broken from the time I saw a Klingon wearing Stormtrooper armor. Talk about a double-take! 🙂

When I first started writing, I wasn’t as careful about creating the characters ahead of time. As I’ve made mistakes and seen missed opportunities, I’ve migrated toward character creation first. I do this before world building, even.

For the Sentinel Wars, I created 40 characters before I ever wrote a single world. While I’ll never use them all, and I’ve created some as I’ve gone along, I’ve found that this is a really great way to get the character-driven plots that I love most.

Hi Shannon! I love the series, although I am a bit behind. It sounds like I need to get caught up. I loved the interview and I am happy to say that I had a chance to meet both you and Jim here in Kansas City not too long ago. Thanks for the fantastic giveaway! [email protected]

Sorry we missed you, HighlandHussy! I don’t have any plans to do spin-offs for the Sentinel Wars. At one point I thought it would work better to have each race get their own series, but by the time I wrote the 3rd book, I realized that the stories were too intertwined to separate them. I’m planning to continue as I have, adding in stories from both Sanguinar and Slayers as the series progresses.

The idea for the Sentinels was something that developed slowly over the course of a couple of years. I wanted to create a big world that mixed the feel of the fantasy books I grew up reading with the thrill of paranormal romances. The world building took a while, and I actually wrote the first book of the series three times before I hit the right story. The second version was what ended up being Paul and Andra’s story. The first version will never see the light of day. 🙂

I’ve sold 9 books in the series so far, and if I get my way, I’d like there to be 15. The story has a definite end, though I did design it with some wiggle room in the middle, in case I need to shrink or expand it. The novellas that I’ve been writing (The Collector in ON THE HUNT and the newly released eSpecial BOUND BY VENGEANCE, are two of those) will help me tell a few of the smaller stories that I might not otherwise get to tell.

Music is a crucial part of my inspiration–nothing else evokes emotion like a really great song–but I prefer silence when I write. Or white noise, like recorded thunderstorms. I kind of zone out when I’m in the groove, so if I were to listen to music while writing, I’m sure that the lyrics would end up on the page. 🙂

I prefer alternative rock or straight rock, and gravitate toward male vocalists and heavy, complex drums. I do occasionally listen to speed metal just for the frenetic drums.

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Dark Past

Rating System Explanation

Five stars are like six-pack abs on a really tan, hunky guy not wearing much. They make us drool, we stroke them (the books, not the guys! - sometimes the guys...) and want to make sweet, sweet love to them. Five stars is the hottest, we mean, highest honor.

Four stars is a total hunkalicious of burning love, but maybe we didn't like his hair for some reason. We still think he's hot, and we're still going to recommend him, we mean, the book, to readers because it's a damn fine ass, we mean book.

Three stars = that awkward guy at the party. He's cute and you know he's cute, and if you look at him the right way, he even looks like Brad Pitt a little, but there are flaws. Surprisingly, he's good in bed (because you got drunk and shit happens).

Remember that - yeah we don't either.

One star is like expecting a somewhat attractive guy and being sent a Grumpy cat meme. We appreciate the effort, but no. This book was not for us. Grumpy cat might want to use it for litter though.